The Noose
by CorruptCreature
Summary: Set at the Western Air Temple before zuko shows up. Feelings are admitted and even greater things are revealed. Tokka mostly.


**A/N: Hi guys!**

I wondered for a moment if I should tell her or not, the comet's arrival was looming and there was possibility that I wouldn't survive the fight that I was needed in. The consequences of not telling Toph how I felt would haunt me in my final breath if it were my destiny to be lying in some hallway bleeding to death with my sword in my hand; that would be the noose around my neck above everything else.

There was nothing to be done; I had to tell her even if it meant she didn't feel the same way, I had to tell her. I didn't know if Aang and Zuko's planning would be enough to keep us all safe and if I lost her… there would be no coming back.

I found her on the top most floors of the temples practicing her Earthbending, something I normally would have been worried about but she was smart, and did so in a way that would not take down the entire temple complex into the canyon below.

I knew she knew I was there, but I called out her name anyway out of habit.

"Hey Toph?"

Toph dropped her hands and the awaiting stone dropped as well. "Yeah?" I thought I caught something in her voice like a lightness of tone that I knew she used with no one else.

I hesitated for a second and just decided that there was no point in stalling, she could tell when I did that and I got the feeling it annoyed her. "I'm going to get right to the point, Toph I…feel a certain way about you and I don't know what to do about it, but I wanted to let you know…because there's a chance that none of us will survive the next invasion I thought it was important."

"Really?" She was at a loss for words. I didn't hear a spark of change in her voice. "Sokka, you don't want to love me, I'm not the split down the middle warrior and lover like Suki." She bit her lip and I cut her off before she could continue.

"But…Toph I love every detail about you, the way your hair drapes over your eyes, your can do attitude." I smiled triumphantly and said. "Even your bending, I think earth is a real battle ready element and…I respect it for that…I respect you."

"Don't do that, don't patronize me! I'm …I'm not a helpless little girl Sokka!" Toph yelled.

"Did I say that?" I asked out of frustration. "All I said was that I respected you!"

"And it won't work, I can tell how everyone sees me, you just wanted an Earthbending teacher for Aang." She spoke seething words of bitterness now like embers on a fresh fire.

"Now you're just being paranoid." I scoffed.

"Am I?" She inquired detectably as though I was lying to her.

"Well, at first yeah…" I got flustered and didn't know how to continue. "But then we got to know you and…well the point is we're your friends now, aren't we?" I asked trying to get her to reflect on what she said.

She then took what looked just one giant step before she gotten so close to her I could see the creases that were etched in her face whenever she got really upset, I could see each individual strand of her hair blowing in the soft breeze created by the bottle neck effect of the canyon. I could see the tears dried and absorbed by the coat of earth on her cheeks.

I put my hand on her cheek and she just held it there with her hand, closed her eyes and rested her head on it as if it were a pillow.

"Why love someone, who can't see you?" She whispered.

"Because you see people differently, you see them for who they are." I replied softly. She entwined her hand with my free one and kissed me tenderly, it was shock that she was being so soft and vulnerable with me, but I understood at the same time this was the side of her she never showed to anyone.

Her foot stomped the ground and a pillar of earth formed below her feet, which made her and I about the same height. She wrapped her arms around my neck; I could tell she was starting to wonder which room of the temple Katara and I slept in. She broke off the kiss and asked almost in whisper. "Do you want to go somewhere…less open?" I laughed lightly at her loss of words and I took her in my arms, her legs dangling over my forearm and her head rested complacently in the palm of my other hand. She was surprisingly light for having as much muscle as she did.

My footsteps echoed through the open halls of the temple as I crept to the room that my sister and me had picked at our arrival the familiar trophy pelts and other I killed for their meat hung in rows along the walls. I wanted to check Katara's bed to see if she was asleep, but decided against it ironically for fear of waking her in case she was asleep there.

I lowered Toph onto my bed which also the warm furs I had slept with since I was little. We broke off the kiss regrettably and told me to make her mine. She smiled and took off her shirt, and I couldn't help but gaze at how soft looking she was compared to her tomboy attitude. Her skin didn't glisten or sparkle or anything, I was just amazed at how perfectly plain it was. Her breasts weren't too big or too small for her age; she was exceptionally muscular from her bending in her arms and stomach.

She smiled as though she could tell I was just admiring her and kissed me more passionately this time. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down on top of her.

"I love you." I told her while I ran my fingers through her hair. She giggled and before I knew it her feet were pulling at my pants. My manhood sprung free of its chambers and my morality suddenly came to me.

'She's only twelve' I thought about this for a moment and felt the need to ask. "Are you sure you want to do this? We don't have to, we could just lay here together."

I suddenly heard a rustling in Katara's bed and sat up. "Katara, Are you still asleep?" I heard Aang's voice and I didn't know what emotion came into my head at that moment as I got out of bed and ripped the large animal fur off the bed. Where I saw Aang and Katara curled up to each other completely naked. This sent my brain into mixed emotions, first I was in denial and then I was just grossed out.

"AANG!" I bellowed loudly, waking my sister and bringing Aang fully aware of what just happened. Aang jumped off the bed and found a pair of his pants and quickly put them on.

"Sokka?" Katara asked still rubbing her eyes, half asleep her eyes then went wider than I had ever seen them before. "Sokka, I know how this looks…" she paused and wrapped herself in one of the seal skins, stood up, and I could tell she was choosing her words carefully. "And your right, we made love…" I didn't think she had anything else to say but before I could say anything she interrupted me. "But you have to understand, Aang and I are in love and-." I couldn't take it anymore.

"Katara!" I raised my voice slightly so as to get her attention. "That's enough." I told her firmly.

Aang took a step and stood beside Katara, he looked ashamed and genuinely guilty. "Sokka, I don't know what to say…I feel as if I've betrayed you and-."

"Don't apologize Aang!" Katara looked as mad as I had ever seen her, and this would not be the first time I was genuinely afraid of her. "Sokka is being stupid and making you feel guilty just so he can cover his own hypocritical feelings for Toph!" At this Toph stepped off my bed and unlike me she was not afraid to look Katara straight in the eye.

"Look Katara, you can have your little romance with twinkle toes, I could care less." Toph took a step forward and the two girls were almost touching noses, Toph was looking at Katara with such intensity that I thought a boulder would jump out of the ground at any moment. "But don't think that after Sokka caught the two of you together, that I'll let you judge my relationship with him as if you're innocent in all of this…because your not…and you know it." Toph then fell silent and crossed her arms on her chest, seeming as though she was waiting for a reply.

"This is different Toph, you and Aang are both the same age, but Sokka is four years older than y-" Toph cut her off knowing full well what she was going to say. "Aang is two years younger than you! And besides, its not as if Sokka raped me in my sleep!" Toph screamed, her fists flying and her feet pounding the ground in frustration.

"Can I say something?" Aang asked timidly.

"What?" Katara and Toph yelled in unison as they looked in the direction of the young airbender.

Aang spoke firmly but with a kind manner still about him, ready for any retaliation from either side. "Sokka, you and Toph have something special that much is clear." Aang turned to Katara and took her hand in his. "Katara I don't think it's fair for either you or Toph to judge each other for what your feelings are for me and Sokka…I mean, you guys are friends and together we're a team, the four of us."

"Well now that has got to be the most sappy speech I ever heard." Toph said sarcastically, she then cracked a smile. She then crossed the room and put her arm around him. "But you got a point, I'll give you that."

"He always knows what to say doesn't he?" Sokka walked over and put over hand on his shoulder.

Katara then smiled at all three of them just standing there and laughed. "It's his job Sokka." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in world. "I think we should promise never to criticize who we love or don't love." Katara suggested as she put the back of her hand out.

"I promise." Aang resolved.

"Me too." I put my hand on top of Aang's.

"Yes MOM." Toph said with a grin. This just got a glare from Katara.

"Well now that that's settled, Katara could you get dressed? I don't wanna have to explain to dad some day why I was staring at you this whole time." I laughed nervously, hoping someone would join in but Toph and Aang just looked at me in shock. Katara got up and walked over to her brother and gave him a teasing kiss.

"Your secret's safe with me." From that day forward, no one said a word about whom anyone was with… EVER… as they promised.

(End)


End file.
